Monday, August 16, 2004

Wells on Education

Paul Wells has taken a break from Paul Martin bashing (unfortunately) and dead Jazz musician eulogies (thankfully) to focus on his latest obsession: post-secondary education.

His argument is that rising tuition is not the disaster everyone makes it out to be so long as bursaries are available to help lower income students. And I agree completely. It's in society's interest to make sure as many young adults as possible attend University. But the rich will go regardless of tuition fees because University is such a worthwhile investment for the individual. So if Vincent Lecavalier decides he wants to attend University next year during the NHL lock-out, he'll go regardless of the tuition rates the Quebec government imposes on their Universities. However, for a kid who spent his High School days working part-time at La Belle Province selling hot dogs to help his single mom pay the bills, the price for a semester at McGill will have a monumental impact on his ability to attend.

What I'd like to see would be for the federal government to get their fingers into post-secondary education. Why not put a national plan like this in place:

1) The federal government gives special "tuition loans" to every single low income Canadian (it would take some time defining this) attending University. These would cover 100% of their tuition fees.

2) These loans would need to be repaid only 10 years after graduation. At this time, any students living in Canada would see their loan absolved.

In effect, the government would be paying the tuition fees for all low income Canadians. The loan system would ensure that our brightest students stay in the country upon graduation, helping to fight the brain drain. The provincial governments would not have to pay any money into this plan but their province would lose the program if they cut back University funding bellow a certain level.

Would this plan be financially feasible? Well, I don't know the exact numbers but let's say for arguments sake that there are 1 million students enrolled in post-secondary education in Canada. There's a wide range in tuition across the country but let's say the government agrees to make the loans for 4,000$ a year. By making it a fixed amount, it encourages Universities to keep the cost of tuition down (since, if you charge four grand a year in tuition, students get in free, whereas 6 grand a year in tuition means they're on the hook for 2,000$...which is quite a bit more than zero). Therefore, the feds would be on the hook for 4 billion a year. Eek! But, remember, that's if they pay for everyone. If they only cover the poorer students, say, the bottom half, it works out to 2 billion a year. Which is still a lot of money but it's far less than the pharmacare program and considering this would be a historic legacy program, I think it would be well worth the investment. Studies have shown that every dollar invested in education pays back 7 to 10 dollars in the long run and countries who have offered free tuition have seen incredible economic results.

I know post-secondary education isn't as sexy or politically popular as health care but a program like this would be one of the best things the Canadian government could institute. It would be bold and would demonstrate vision. And that is why it isn't likely to happen anytime soon.

13 Comments:

Where is tuition $4000? Do these schools exist? I'm paying $5000 a year (before books, rent, food) for a western research university (UofA). Are other school really hovering around the 4k mark?

I some what doubt that. And the idea of guilting a University into lowering their tuition isn't going to work either.

The idea is great (loans absorbed if you're still in the country) but University and Government aren't on the same page. Unless you can marry those two side together, your idea is pretty much a moot point.

Get the feds involved. Right. 'Cause they've done so very well every other time they've meddled in provincial jurisdictions. Ok, maybe not, but at least they know how to run a program efficiently. Oops, not really.

Making big government bigger doesn't seem like much of a solution to me. We should be taking things out of Ottawa's hands, not putting more into them.

I don't like the idea of absolving a loan by the government at all. It wasn't that long ago the plan by students was to wrack up debt, declare bankruptcy when you were finished school and start over fresh. Once the bankruptcy was off your credit history (6 years) you were ready to buy a house and move on. It worked fairly well for students. Cost the government a boatload of money, so of course they solved the problem.

I'd think that people have to pay this cash back, no matter what if we went with an option like you propose.

In my opinion, funding for university's should be part of the federal government's payments to the province. I could be wrong but I think that the transfer agreement is up for review and the fed's can try and tinker with university funding that way if they feel the need to meddle.

We offer the lowest finance rates on a variety of credit needs including loans and many more. Whether you have perfect credit or really bad credit, it doesn't matter. We can get you approved for a home refinance, first time home purchase, auto loan, boat loan, payday loan advance and even a signature only credit line of up to $20,000.00 Apply online today for an instant decision and get the funds you need fast! Apply at www.nwcleasing.com right now.

Just thought i would say hi from Japan. Doing some blog surfing and found your site. Im looking for some cool styles of cost health insurance low nj for my own blog. Theres some really amazing blogs about. if you have time check out my site you will find information on cost health insurance low nj. Well when i get my blog running hope you come and check it out.

As a special token of my appreciation for all your kind help and the wonderful business you have sent my way---I want to give you a free gift.It is called the "$25000.00 Idea". It will help you in all your endeavors.Click here: FREE GIFT

IWC for her birthday. Some models are accessible with inlaid precious stones - my wife's Replica IWC is without., lending the accomplished IWC Watches a actual feminie feel. As you ability expect, for this classical appearance of Replica IWC Watches , the faces appear in black, white or mother of pearl.